RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros women's basketball team earned an exciting comeback win, 58-55 in overtime, over the Houston Christian (HCU) Huskies Saturday in a Southland Conference (SLC) contest at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
Graduate student G/F
Kade Hackerott led UTRGV (14-13, 9-7 SLC) with 14 points and had six rebounds and four assists. Graduate student forward
Chynell Mitchell tallied 13 points and nine rebounds with two steals. Junior forward
Charlotte O'Keefe recorded her 12
th double-double with 12 points, 11 rebounds and two steals. Senior guard
Tierra Trotter and freshman guard
Kayla Lorenz added eight points while Trotter dished out a game-high five assists.
Erin Maguire led the Huskies (6-19, 3-13 SLC) 21 points, five rebounds and three assists.
Tiffany Tullis and
Amy Cotton scored 10 points each and had seven and five rebounds, respectively, while Cotton recorded four assists.
After HCU scored the first points of the overtime period from the charity stripe, the Vaqueros took control to capture the victory. UTRGV did just enough from the free throw line and got multiple scoring chances as they dominated rebounds. With a one-point lead, UTRGV's effort in the paint led to an inbound play that Mitchell turned into a layup for a 52-49 advantage. The Vaqueros added two points on separate trips to the free throw line, but Cotton drained a three to get the Huskies within 54-52 with 23 seconds remaining.
Hackerott went 2-for-2 at the line to build UTRGV's lead to four points, but Maguire heaved a three and banked it off the glass to make it 56-55 with eight seconds on the clock. A miscue by the Vaqueros gave the ball back to HCU for a chance to win, but the UTRGV defense locked in and swarmed the ball to force a jump ball with the possession arrow in favor of the Vaqueros which ultimately secured the win. Hackerott was fouled on the deep inbound and made both free throws for the victory.
UTRGV opened up an early 9-2 lead behind an energetic start. O'Keefe made a highlight-reel play in the paint, recovering after missing a layup to take the rebound away from an opponent and finish her second-chance shot through contact for the three point play. The Huskies came back with a 6-0 run that was stopped by a corner three from Lorenz. Lorenz and sophomore guard
Ja'Shelle Johnson made good defensive plays on the other end to stop HCU for a stretch, but the Huskies closed the quarter strong. UTRGV held a 14-13 lead after the first 10 minutes of play.
The Huskies opened the second quarter on a scoring run, and as the defense kept the Vaqueros off the board for just over six minutes, HCU claimed an 18-14 lead. Hackerott and Lorenz knocked down three-pointers in the final five minutes of the half, but UTRGV's shooting woes led to a relatively quiet offensive quarter. HCU outscored the Vaqueros 13-7 in the frame and took a 26-21 advantage into the locker room after leading by as many as seven in the second quarter.
UTRGV and HCU swapped buckets to start the third quarter, so every time the Vaqueros made a shot to get the deficit down to one possession, the Huskies found an answer to stay in control. Defenses dominated the quarter as UTRGV went scoreless for nearly six minutes and the Huskies didn't make a basket for the last 5:45 of action. UTRGV cut the deficit to 37-33 after Mitchell fired up her team with a high-effort play. She battled for an offensive rebound and drew a jump ball with the possession arrow in favor of UTRGV. The Vaqueros inbounded under their own basket and turned the effort play into points as sophomore guard
Madison Huhn drilled a pull-up jumper from the free throw line.
Mitchell came up big again early in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 37-37 with a long jumper shot from just inside the arc. UTRGV reclaimed the lead as Hackerott showed her court awareness after drawing triple coverage on a drive to the hoop to assist a wide-open O'Keefe layup.
UTRGV's defense prevented the Huskies from scoring for over 10 minutes, taking them deep into the fourth quarter before a shot fell. But with Cotton and Maguire leading the way and knocking down back-to-back threes, the Huskies held a 47-43 lead with 2:30 to play. The Vaqueros responded as Mitchell nailed a pair of free throws and a huge defensive stop resulted in an O'Keefe layup to tie at 47-47 with 1:01 to play.
The next 55 seconds were full of drama that brought the crowd to its feet. The Vaqueros were tremendous in the half-court defensive setup, ultimately leading to the Huskies being called for an offensive foul to give UTRGV the ball with six seconds remaining. The winning shot attempt bounced off the rim and sent the game to overtime.
Up next for UTRGV is a 6 p.m. SLC game Thursday at McNeese.
Support UTRGV Women's Basketball |
Become a Fan on Facebook |
Follow us on Twitter |
Follow us on Instagram |
Follow us on YouTube
